Mehdorn to lead troubled new Berlin airport

Published: 08 Mar 2013 11:23 GMT+01:00

Germany's transport minister on Friday appointed Hartmut Mehdorn, the former head of Air Berlin and the country's rail operator Deutsche Bahn, as the new chief of Berlin's much-delayed main new airport.

Mehdorn, 70, takes over the helm of FBB, a consortium which includes the German state and city of Berlin, in charge of building Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, originally slated to have opened in June 2012.

Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer said Mehdorn's appointment marked "an important step" in putting FBB on the "path to success."

The new airport will replace Berlin's two existing airports, Tegel in the west of the city, and the southeastern-located Schönefeld, on the latter's current site.

But its opening has been postponed indefinitely after several previous delays due to a series of technical issues, raising concerns that it has tarnished Germany's legendary image for efficiency.

While he was head of Germany's second-largest airline Air Berlin, Mehdorn was highly critical of the delays dogging the opening of the new airport and Air Berlin filed a legal complaint.

Your comments about this article

It is often said that Germans never learn. Although this is a general opinion with which I would usually not agree, the case of Hartmut Mehdorn, former head of the German national railway Deutsche Bahn, would seem to prove there some cases where this is true.

Hartmut Mehdorn is largely responsible for most of the financial mess which currently afflicts the German railway system. Can it be right for someone, who is largely accountable for the ruin of a complete transport complex, by taking short time profits at the cost of failing investments, to be put in charge of the new Berlin Airport?

One sometimes wonders who is really in charge of Germany. The government which is the official body responsible, for making sure that tax-money is used in the interest of the population, fails time and time again. Either there is an extreme overdose of incompetence amongst the politicians themselves, or it would appear that the control of internal policies rests within the hands of persons unknown to the electorate.

To judge by the past, the likelihood is, that with the new boss Mehdorn, the excessive expenditure for the new air terminal will more than double again. It is therefore a great pity, that those who spend the taxes of the hard working community, are not required to pass the IHK examinations for accountancy, or at least to recompense the damage they cause.

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